We're still test riding the tandem we're borrowing. We've done several rides between the 20 and 50 km distances, but today we decided to leap into it and try a 100 km ride in our neighbourhood to see how it would go ... and to see if we might want to venture into longer distances.

Today's route was Rowan's choice. It started by climbing right from our doorstep ... a tough climb that has me puffing and panting by the time we get to the top. Perhaps it is because there's no warm-up time before the climbing starts. From there the route had several undulations and several long gradual climbs ... and one stiff climb at the halfway point up to a waterfall.

We lingered in Marysville for a while, having lunch and resting a bit, before tackling the climb to the waterfall. And we walked around a bit when we got to the waterfall before tackling the descent.

Climbing with a tandem is a bit of a challenge ... more difficult (for us with our relative inexperience on the tandem) than climbing with single bicycles. And I find the fast descents a challenge ... but overall, I really enjoy riding the tandem.

Today was beautiful ... you could hardly ask for a nicer day. The high for the day reached somewhere between 16C and 19C, depending on which weather report you believe. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there wasn't much wind.

All up, our ride was 100.8 km!! The first 100K (metric century) we've ridden in 3 months!! And the longest distance we've ridden on the tandem so far!! Woo-hoo!!


Cycling in Australia - Spring/Summer 2010/2011